Harlem Affordable Housing Adds 226 New Units

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor
The Uptowner reports that after having completed two affordable housing buildings totaling 226 units on West 127th and 128th Streets between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and St. Nicholas Avenue in Central Harlem, development company The Richman Group [...]

The Uptowner reports that after having completed two affordable housing buildings totaling 226 units on West 127th and 128th Streets between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and St. Nicholas Avenue in Central Harlem, development company The Richman Group is now in the process of sorting through 18,000 applications for both buildings. Priority will be given to residents of Community Board 10 with good credit scores and no criminal records who must also meet family size and income requirements.

The Balton was named in honor of Charles “Ibo” Balton (1954 – 2007), an urban planner who contributed to the revitalization of Harlem through his work at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HDC). Construction broke ground two years ago and used funds from the Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP), allocated to the state of New York through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Apart from the $20.8 million funding received from TCAP, the project also received $ 5.2 million in a combination of bonds issued by HDC and other funds from the city.

The housing community also includes roughly 15,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 115 underground parking spaces. Future residents will have access to The Balton Club, which includes a fitness center, yoga and spin room, a children’s activity room and a lounge.

In other real estate news, Citybizlist reports that Brooks Shopping Centers LLC has just finished a $250 million redevelopment of the 15-building Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers. The project took nearly five years to complete and, according to Yonkers Mayor Philip A. Amicone, led to the creation of thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of new permanent jobs that contribute to the area’s economic growth.

The 1 million square-foot Cross County Shopping Center has gained 32 new shops on 155,288 square feet of space, a five-story garage with 685 sparking paces and more than 5,000 spaces overall. According to the source, Macy’s invested $30 million in an expansion project that added 75,000 square feet to its footprint at the site. The retailer is now occupying more than 400,000 square feet at the shopping center.